


Run

by kmarie081801 (orphan_account)



Category: Monsta X (Band), iKON (Kpop)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Disorder, Attempt at Humor, Child Abuse, Depression, Domestic Violence, Drug Use, Eventual Smut, IM ABOUT TO SIN, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Lonely Kihyun for a while im sorry :'(, M/M, Multi, Self-Harm, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-07-15 02:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7203536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/kmarie081801
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They didn't expect to be treated like dirt, never. But they all have each other, and that's what matters the most. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning & Hyungwon

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a High School AU. The only established relationships in the story so far are Hoseok & an Male OC, and Past/Broken Gunhee & Jooheon.
> 
> Hyunwoo: 18  
> Hoseok, Minhyuk & Kihyun: 17  
> Hyungwon & Jooheon: 16  
> Changkyun: 15

_//I'll lean on you and you lean on me and we'll be okay//_

•

The bruises throb underneath his uniform as he walks to school, his hand trembling as he held up the umbrella, the raindrops slamming down on the umbrella and falling back to the ground. 

 

He didn't know what he had done, hell, he never knows what he did, but it always ended up with his body littered in various colors of bruises. He wrapped his ribs with the bandages he'd bought with money he'd found on the street, and they weren't going to be healed up for quote some time. 

 

Walking slowly up the steps, he tries not to hiss as he put the umbrella down, walking in through the stone pillars and into the warm, toasty school. There, Hyunwoo approaches him with a bright smile on his face, embracing him in a hug that wasn't too tight but not too loose either. "Hyungwonnie! Why didn't you come over last night? We were expecting you," the brunet sighs, walking down through the crowded hallway and to the rows of lockers.

 

"Grandma wanted my help," he grunts, sitting his bag down on the ground and standing back up, putting in his combination and opening up his locker. "I'm sorry."

 

"It's fine," Hyunwoo smiles, shutting his locker door and standing with his back against it. "No worries." 

 

He _hated_ lying, absolutely despised it. Especially towards his friends, his family, if you will. Smiling back, he grabs his necessary belongings and shut his locker door, right before he gets scared by Kihyun.

 

"Son of a bitch!" Hyungwon yells and jumps up, turning around and hitting Kihyun on the chest multiple times. "What the fuck did I tell you about that?"

 

Hoseok walks behind Kihyun, pressing a finger to his lips as Hyungwon hides his smirk. Revenge at it's finest.

 

"Yeah, what did he tell you about that?" Hoseok says, making Kihyun have the same reaction as Hyungwon, before doubling over and laughing. Hyunwoo's still standing with his back against the lockers, desperately trying to catch his breath. 

 

"My little Changkyunnie!" Hyunwoo yells, running and jumping on said boy, squeezing him with a tight hug as the boy playfully gasped for breath. Changkyun playfully shoves the latter off of him, before standing against Hyunwoo's locker with an amused smile on his face. "Where's Minhyuk and Jooheon at?" 

 

"I don't know where they're at," Hoseok replies, taking something out of his binder and throwing it to Hyungwon, hitting him in the shoulder.

 

"You left this with my stuff by accident the other day," Hoseok says, as if reading Hyungwon's mind while he picked up the bright blue folder. 

 

The bell rings, the boys begin to dart in different directions to their classes, except for Hyungwon and Hyunwoo, they smile and high five each other, Hyunwoo holding up his phone. 

 

"The recording gets them every time," Hyunwoo says, before the actual bell rang, and Minhyuk anf Jooheon pop up suddenly in front of them, chuckling. "The recording?" 

 

"Yep." Hyungwon laughs, making sure not too hard to prevent him him from hissing in pain. "Where were you two?" 

 

"None of your business," Minhyuk replies, his chuckling dying down as they actually ran down the hallway, gasping for breath as they finally reached their destination.

\------------------------------------------------------

"Kyunnie!" Hyungwon yells after their last class, darting towards the younger who had only one earbud in. "Lim Changkyunnie!"

 

"Hyung!" Changkyun replies back, Hyungwon jumping onto his back and asking him for a piggyback ride out the door, to which he agrees. 

 

Hyungwon's laughter dies down as Changkyun struggles to put him back on the ground. He has no where to go, because for some reason his father kicks him out for one to two weeks at a time.

 

And he's perfectly okay with that.

 

"Kyunnie, do we have anything planned this weekend?" Hyungwon asks, the two of them walking down to the small restaurant to wait for the others. His question was unanswered because Hyunwoo shows up with the others and insists that they go inside and get bowls of ramen for free, the elderly woman who owned the place loved them like her own.

 

"Here you go, my lovely little boys!" She cooes, ruffling each and every one of their heads as they smile brightly, repeating thank you as they went over to their regular booth, the seven of them attempting to fit into one. 

 

"We were planning on going to Hyunwoo hyung's, right?" Changkyun answers Hyungwon somewhat, slurping down his noodles and looking over at Hyunwoo who nods his head. "There you go." 

 

"Do you boys want anything else? It's on the house," the woman comes back up with a little notepad in her hand. She's probably in her mid to late 50's, her smile brightening up the store along with her personality. The boys came here about two or three years ago, when they were stuck with no where to go and no ride while standing in the pouring rain. The woman found them, and told them all to come in, making them homemade hot chocolate with cinnamon buns. 

 

"No thank you," Minhyuk and Hosoek reply, while Jooheon and Hyunwoo ask for a few cinnamon rolls, and Kihyun, Hyungwon and Changkyun want hot chocolate along with a slice of her famous chocolate cherry cheesecake. 

 

"Why don't I come and help you?" Hyungwon offers, sliding out of the booth with a smile on his face as she nods, her face becoming brighter as she leads him back to the kitchen. 

 

"Here hon," she tells him as they reach the kitchen, handing him a piece of paper with her neat handwriting printed on it. "Here is how to make the hot chocolate, and the cake as well as the cinnamon buns are on the counter, nicely chilled and prepared specially for you." 

 

"Thank you," he replies, a laugh bubbling out of him as he finishes the hot chocolate. "Does this taste like it should?" He asks, blowing on his cup and handing it to the woman, who nods in response with a giant smile still present on her face as she praises him.

 

Hyungwon comes out with the cups of hot chocolate on one plate along with the cinnamon buns, and the other hand the chocolate cake.

 

They sit there, devouring the delightful tasting food. Hyungwon has to hold back a few hisses while they were telling each other about their day, and he couldn't help but laugh at his awkward friends. 

 

Especially when you kinda, sorta, _maybe_ , definitely have a low-key crush on one of them. 

 

That's what Hyungwon thinks, and he can't destroy his friendship.

 

Not now. 


	2. Hoseok

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of Current and Past Self-Harm, & Relationship Abuse.

"Please, I'm just going out with my friends."

"Fine, you know what? Do whatever you want to do, go wherever you want to go."

"C-Can you let go- AH!" Hoseok yells, his boyfriend's grip on his wrist getting tighter, and he can feel the bruises from Dongsun's fingertips beginning to form on the inside of his wrist. The smirk on his boyfriend's face says it all, and he begins to back away until his back hits the front door. Dongsun already towers over him, a whopping 6'8", the older's breath ghosting along his ear as Hoseok shrinks down farther than he already is. He can smell the alcohol on Dongsun's breath, and he scrunched up his nose and begins to wince in fear as he is going to know what happens next. 

"You know that this happens when you start stuff you can't finish. I'm in charge here, _got it?_ "  The deep voice imitates the other, and Hoseok merely stays silent until Dongsun's hands fist his shirt, slamming him back up against the door. "Answer me!" He roars loudly, his voice reverberating through Hoseok's ears and Hoseok can feel the tears forming in his eyes.

"Y-Yes, I u-understand."

"Good. And what happens if we tell our friends about this?"

"You'll h-hit me harder than you do," Hoseok stutters, his voice quivering and laced with fear. A kiss is pressed on his cheek, and Hoseok tries his hardest not to wince and push Dongsun away, because he'll know what'll happen if he does. 

"Good. Now leave! And don't come back!" He shoves Hoseok out of the door, putting him flat on his face as Dongsun slams the door closed. He shoves his hands into his jacket pockets and rummages for his phone, dialing Hyunwoo's number. Hyunwoo hears the ring a few times before his voice reverberates through the speaker. "Seokkie?"

"Come pick me up. Please." He begs desperately, his voice on the verge of breaking as the tears fall from his eyes. He could always depend on Hyunwoo, the older once saw him covered in bruises, and asked nicely. He helps him out at his weakest points. Hyunwoo coughs through the speaker and Hoseok has a tiny smile on his face.

"I'm already on my way there."

~

He watches the boys as they all get hella drunk (except Hyunwoo, he's sleeping in the corner, and Minhyuk too, he's on the couch watching YouTube), and Hoseok yells at Jooheon and Changkyun, the babies, who were about to link arms and take a swig out of their bottles. He just sits back and takes a swig of homemade lemonade from his cup, and feels a weight pushing down next to him on the mattress: it's Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo looks at the younger, smiling softly. Hyunwoo rarely gets drunk, because he doesn't like the feeling of a hangover (but who does, really?). Hoseok looks down at the other's hand, beginning to laugh as Hyunwoo hands him an eyeliner pencil and a small mirror and gives it to him. "Y'know, any time I see my mom, she asks if I have a girlfriend because I carry this for you all the time," Hyunwoo laughs, swiftly swiping a glass of water off of the table next to him, taking a big chug before sitting the cheap glass back down.

Hoseok looks at him quizzically, after finishing his makeup to cover his slightly puffy eyes. "I thought you parents knew you were gay?" He tilts his head to the side, eyebrows scrunched up as Hyunwoo then takes a swig from Hoseok's lemonade, causing Hoseok to slap him.

"Yeah, but my mom likes to make jokes about how I still have a chance with a girl." Hyunwoo laughs, and a gust of wind blows through the open window and Changkyun runs over and shuts it, but not before he trips over a bean bag chair that Hyunwoo placed in the center of the floor. "HYUNG WHY I OUGHTA-"

"SHUT UP MINI SATAN."

Changkyun bites his lip and bows his head, trying not to let a laugh especially his mouth yet he fails miserably. Kihyun throws a pillow at him plus Minhyuk does the same, except he throws one of Hyunwoo's mini stuffed animals (Hyunwoo once told all of them that you're never too old to own a tiny Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, or any stuffed animals), at Kihyun, before he went back to cuddling with Hyungwon.

Hoseok laughs wholeheartedly, and feels a cold hand brush back his bangs that covers his eyes. The throbbing still continues after he has thrown out of the house just an hour earlier. Hyunwoo leans over to his dresser and pulls out some cooling/healing ointment, along with a bottle of cover up that Hoseok left there weeks prior. He begins to take a cotton ball and dab the ointment quietly around the purplish-yellow bruise, and once he's done he sits all of it back in the drawer and shuts it. "And once that starts to help, we'll put some of that cover up on too, okay?"

"Okay."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hoseok wakes up and the strong familiar scent of alcohol filling his nostrils. He feels the weight of Hyunwoo's arm draped across his stomach, and he carefully wraps his hand around the other's wrist and softly places it back into the bed. Looking around the room, he sees Minhyuk huddled in the corner of his basement, playing on his phone with headphones in. Kihyun was lying in the bean bag chair, mouth wide open, basically they were all lying on top of each other, and the only sober ones were Hyunwoo, Minhyuk and himself.

He walks upstairs, feeling the sweatpants he borrowed from Hyunwoo hang off of his hips. Hoseok grabs bacon, loaves of bread, eggs, and sausage and begins to cook. He's flipping the eggs when he hears Kihyun mumbling something along the lines of, "It's too early for this shit," "I feel like dying holy shit," and "Why did I drink so much oh my God I'm going to hell."

"Aye, Kihyunnie. Mind helping me cook here?" Hoseok asks, looking at the younger who's rubbing his eyes and yawning heavily. He grabs the orange juice and lemonade pitchers from the fridge and grabs thirteen red solo cups, pouring them in slowly and carefully. Hoseok spins back around just as Kihyun puts the bread in the toaster.

"So," Kihyun mumbles, grabbing a cup of orange juice and taking a tiny sip out of it. "How'd you sleep?"

"Dandy." Hoseok replies, pushing his bangs out of his eye. Kihyun chuckles, raking his fingers through his hair as his sleeve pushes up, and Hoseok tries to ignore the red and white scars he can see on Kihyun's wrist and forearm from the corner of his eyes. "What about you? Sleep well, cuddling with Changkyun?"

"I just hugged him until we both fell asleep."

"Aw how cute."

"Hyung I swear to the beloved Lord above. We're not even dating-"

"Well since the food's done," Hoseok interupts him and turns off the stove top, and arranges the plates. "Let's go wake up some hungover people."

~

It takes Hoseok and Kihyun about 15 minutes to wake up the rest, and once Kihyun mumbles the word 'food' into all of their ears, none of them hesitate to dart up the stairs in an unorderly fashion. Hoseok and Kihyun end up walking behind all of them, not wanting to be killed by the raging footsteps of the other hungry teens.

"WHO MADE THIS?" Hyunwoo yells out.

"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" Hyungwon screams, presumably because Hyunwoo was right next to the young male with a hangover, screaming into his ear. Taking a nearby newspaper, Hyungwon swats at the back of Hyunwoo's head repeatedly. "I SWEAR-"

"I made it," Hoseok calmly yells through all the commotion brewing between Hyungwon and Hyunwoo, who was holding his head from the hard paper swats, and Hyungwon is now in the bathroom finding the asprin for the lingering hangover. "And Kihyun over here helped me."

Hoseok watches as Hyunwoo glances over at Kihyun, who sits his cup down slowly. "Kihyun, please tell me you didn't break my toaster again."

"No sir." Kihyun chuckles.

Hoseok laughs. This is the way a family breakfast should be.

~

"I wanna go to the food court." Jooheon complains to Hoseok, who looks at the younger and crinkles his eyebrows together.

"Boy, does it look like I got money?"

"No, but Hyunwoo hyung does!"

Hyunwoo springs up from the living room couch while watching Dr. Phil, and presses his fingers to his temple and sighs deeply. "I literally just bought food for my own fucking home guys. I'm off for the next two days, what makes you think I have a lot of cash on me?"

Changkyun reaches over to the coffee table and quietly looks through Hyunwoo's wallet. "Well, from what I just counted, there's $405 in here."

"Why I oughta," Hyunwoo playfully hisses, snatching his wallet from the younger's hands. Hoseok laughs, ruffling Jooheon's bright red hair and sighing, stretching so that he could crack his back. "Oh come on Hyun. You have money to give all of us, don't you?"

They throw shade at one another while Hoseok doesn't even bother to look at his phone that's probably blowing up with texts from Dongsun.

"HYUNGWON DUDE WHAT THE FUCK MAN."

"I AM VOMITING ALCOHOL KIHYUN SHUT UP."

"MINHYUK HELP YOUR HUNGOVER BOYFRIEND."

"OH HELL NO." Minhyuk screams from the basement, grabbing a change of clothes. "I'M NOT DOING THAT."

"And this is why I don't get drunk." Hyunwoo mumbles next to Hoseok, a little smile on his face as he takes a bite out of the cold bacon from 5 hours before. Changkyun looks at him along with Hoseok, who's questioning why the hell the oldest is eating nasty bacon from hours earlier.

"You do want to die, don't you?"

~

Of course, Jooheon convinces Hyunwoo (along with the string of mumbled curses from Kihyun), to go to the food court in the mall. But along the way, he has to hide behind Hyungwon and the rest because he can see Dongsun in his line of vision with another group of friends. "Go to Starbucks and lead the way, he hates that place." Hoseok demands. "Go."

Today, though was filled with all sorts of fun. Hyungwon buys a new pair of sneakers from Journeys, Hyunwoo buys a DVD from Best Buy, and the others have some Chinese takeout and KFC.

"Hey, do you see his car?" Hoseok mumbles to Hyunwoo, who scans the small parking lot and shakes his head. "Good, that means I can stop hiding behind you all."

He stops crouching behind the crowd of six and groans while his knees crack. Kihyun taps him on the shoulder and holds out a chicken wing. "Want some? You haven't eaten all day since you made us breakfast."

"Hey! I helped!" Changkyun exclaims to Kihyun, hitting him on the shoulder before grabbing a piece of chicken out of the bucket.

Hoseok laughs as he grabs the now lukewarm piece of chicken and takes a bite out of it. His stomach had been growling all day but he really didn't want to eat, as he was feeling a little sick to his stomach.

They pile in the Mini Van that Hyunwoo borrowed from his uncle. Hyunwoo was driving while Minhyuk called shotgun, and the rest piled in the back. Since the mall was 3 and half hours away, Changkyun fell asleep on Jooheon's shoulder, and Jooheon's head fell back onto Hyungwon's shoulder when he was sleeping, Hyungwon's head fell back against the seat. Kihyun's arms were draped across Hoseok and Hoseok fights off the urge to push up the younger's sleeves and look at his arms. He remembers when they went through that with Changkyun, when one time a year ago he stretched and they could see scars in one part of his stomach and down on his hip.

_"Leave it alone, okay?!" Changkyun yells at them, fixing his clothes while sitting in Hyunwoo's basement, so that no one could see the cuts. "It's not a big deal!"_

_" 'Not a big deal'? Changkyun, you can go deeper and God knows what will happen!" Jooheon yells back, raking his fingers through his hair. The only one who wasn't yelling was Kihyun, as he was looking down and playing with his thumbs quietly._

_"You're not going to say anything to him?" Hyungwon directs to Kihyun, his voice so harsh that it makes Kihyun visibly flinch. "He's cutting himself, and you have no words to say?"_

_"N-No, I-I don't know what to say." Kihyun stutters out, lifting his head to see Hyungwon, and they can all see tears gathering in his eyes, and Changkyun looks down and bites his lip while tapping his foot with anxiety._

_"Hyungwon, you're scaring him, calm down." Gunhee says calmly, wrapping his arm around Jooheon, while Changkyun flops back onto the bed and Kihyun runs upstairs to the bathroom._

"Hyung? Hyung! We're home!" Kihyun yells, opening the van door as Hoseok was too into his thoughts to know where he was at. It was 7:15 pm, Hoseok's phone reads, and he yawns and stretches. Today would be another day spending the night at Hyunwoo's so that Dongsun wouldn't beat him again.

"Jooheon, can you please walk Changkyun home? It's pitch black outside and I don't want him to get snatched up."

"Yeah, no problem." Jooheon smiles and his eye smile shows as he grabs Changkyun by the wrist and they start walking.

"Are you staying here again?" Hyunwoo directs the question to Hoseok. He nods, biting his fingernails down a bit. Hoseok feels Hyunwoo's hand latch onto his wrist softly when they walk into the house and Hoseok tries not to wince because Dongsun left bruises there in the shape of his hands. "Good. I don't want you going back there. Okay?"

"Okay." Hoseok feels Hyunwoo kiss him on the cheek, close to the corner of his mouth. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. You're my friend, and I'm not going to let you get hurt any further."

Hoseok decides then, if he should go home tomorrow morning or stay in bed with Hyunwoo since it's Hyunwoo's day off. He picks the second one of course, because Hyunwoo touch is so fragile and loving, unlike Dongsun's, who's touch is like a burning hatred for Hoseok.

And one day, just one day, he hopes to not worry about if he's going to live or die by a loved one's hands.

 


	3. Changkyun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of Past Self Harm and Past Domestic Abuse.

"I can't believe Hyunwoo had to make you walk me home." Changkyun sighs, putting his hands in his pants pockets and looking over at Jooheon. Hyunwoo wanted to make sure Changkyun got home safe, since after the mall they spent the day until 7:30-8:00 over at Hyunwoo's house.

"You're welcome," Jooheon laughs, looking down at his feet and walking on the left side of Changkyun. "But actually, I wanted to."

"Why?"

"You're 15, and you're a pretty boy. Someone could attack you, y'know?"

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Changkyun mumbles, his hands burrowed in his pockets as far as his hands could go. "So, is Gunhee trying to get back with you?"

"No, I told him to stop trying."

The two stop at a crosswalk and watch the oncoming busy traffic buzz by, the bright headlights whizzing past them and almost close to blinding the boys. Changkyun laughs as they dash through the crosswalk, and he puts his hands down on his knees. "Why'd you two break up?"

"Shouldn't have to walk in on my boyfriend in his bed making out with another boy. But enough about him, what about you and Yoonho?" Jooheon chuckles, standing up against a McDonald's building wall, dusting some of the Mayflies off of his clothes from the streetlight above them.

"He broke up with me after I found out he was making out with another boy in that boy's bed. Wait..."

Jooheon literally falls to the ground against the building and laughs his ass off as people watch them. Changkyun lets out a gigglae and falls on top of Jooheon. "Oh sweet baby Jesus! Our boyfriends cheated on us with each other! How amazing! Did you give him that black eye?"

"You bet your ass I did. Gave one to both of them. But it's alright, we don't need them." Jooheon looks over and sees the younger taking deep breaths and leaning his head against his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to go home." Changkyun sighs, bringing one of his hands to rub at his eye. He doesn't want to go home and possibly step on another empty heroin needle like he always does, or when he goes home he doesn't want to carry his mother up to her bedroom and throw her onto the bed and make sure she isn't dead. It doesn't matter what she's on, she does something new everyday, and Changkyun can't do anything about it.

"You don't have to. Come home with me." Jooheon offers, wrapping his arm around the younger. "All my parents are going to do is throw on fake smiles and throw compliments while you're there to act like they're the nicest fucking people in the world. To seem like they actually care about who's my friends or whether I have any, y'know?"

The two stand up, with the older's arm still wrapped around Changkyun's shoulders as they turned back around and walked in the opposite direction to Jooheon's house. "I know. My dad used to be like that before he left us. Acting all happy and shit when in reality he was fucking miserable, and when he left, that miserable feeling came back on me."

Changkyun looks up at Jooheon, and know what he's going to ask. _'Why'd your father leave you guys?'_ Because he was tired of Changkyun's mother spending all her money on drugs and then asking his father for more, and when he refused, they got into arguments and ending up hitting each other, to which Changkyun broke up the fights when he turned 11, back when he lived in Boston for 6 years as a kid. And when they moved back to Korea when Changkyun was 12, his father had "had enough" and packed up his things and left. That was their last fight.

_"You can't expect me to raise a kid on my own!" His mother exclaims, slamming her hand down on the kitchen counter. Changkyun was hiding in the downstairs bathroom, the door locked with his back pressed against it. "You bastard!"_

_"You didn't say that when you were buying pills and drugs off of the street! You were too high off your ass to even care about Changkyun!" His father screams back, and he hears a slap echo through the house, and he can't tell who hit who. "Bitch!"_

_"Get the hell out of my house! I'm so glad Changkyun isn't going with you!"_

  
_"Yet I think Changkyun would be better off dead than with you! You crazy bitch! If Changkyun ever finds you dead that will be the day he can live with me and have his childhood back!"_

_The screaming continues some more, and Changkyun can still hear muffled screaming with his hands on his ears. She picks up an empty glass from the kitchen table and throws it above his head as his father's hand lands on the doorknob. Changkyun hears more curses from the both of them before the door slam shakes the entire house._

_"Changkyun! Come down here and grab me a beer from the downstairs fridge. And boy, if you don't get down here in two seconds I will make you take these pills yourself!"_

"You don't have to tell me why your dad left. You can tell me whenever you're ready. I won't pry into your family life, I'm not that big of an asshole that people think I am." Jooheon's words snap Changkyun out of his flashback, and Changkyun sends him a smile that reads 'Thank you.'

"You're welcome. Let's round this block here and we're at my house."

"It was that quick?" Changkyun laughs as they round the corner, and they pop up right in front of Jooheon's house, and holy hell did it look prettier than Changkyun thought it would be. "Your house is gorgeous!"

"Thanks. When you go upstairs, my bedroom is the second door on the left. There's a bathroom built in with mine, so you don't have to keep running back and forth." Jooheon says to him as he opens the door, and Changkyun's nostrils are automatically filled with the smell of berry scented candles. The house is picturesque, everything in the living room is brightly colored with different shades of blue, which doesn't clash with the color of the wall, a stark white. Through the doorway, Changkyun can see that the kitchen is white too, but adorned with black decorations.

"Are you going to stand and admire my house, or find your way to my bedroom?" Jooheon laughs, and a smile appears of Changkyun's face. Of course he would admire Jooheon's house, because now his house doesn't even look remotely close to how perfect Jooheon's looks. "If you want to take a shower or change, because I bet you wouldn't want to sleep in your skinny jeans and t-shirt, my top dresser drawer is undergarments, second is t-shirts, the third drawer is jeans and the second to last drawer is pajama pants. I'm gonna go see what mom made for dinner, do you want me to make you a plate?"

Changkyun nods and throws up the OK sign before trudging up the stairs with heavy and tired feet. "Second door on the left... Second door on the left," he keeps repeating to himself until he reaches Jooheon's bedroom. He walks in, and his bedroom walls aren't remotely close to being decorated as he thought they would be, except for a few posters, and his walls were painted red, black and white, which Changkyun remembers Jooheon telling him that those were his favorite colors. He grabs the clothes quickly and rushes into the bathroom, figuring out how to work the shower while he hears faint yelling between Jooheon and his mom, something along the lines of "I'm surprised you have any friends because of the way you are," and "I wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for you and dad."

Once he's out of the shower and dressed, Changkyun is heading towards the stairs and almost runs into Jooheon, who's bringing up two plates of food for the two of them. "I hope you don't mind what she made. She made-"

"Bulgogi, Lettuce and Rice with Onions and Red Peppers mixed in it. Is this your favorite food?" Changkyun smiles and takes the plate out of Jooheon's right hand as they walk to his bedroom and shut the door, before Jooheon turns on the TV and Adult Swim comes on.

"Yeah, it is." Jooheon replies with a mouthful of rice. "Why?"

"My grandma used to make this all the time back when we lived in America. It reminded her of home." Changkyun smiles, shoving some of the Bulgogi into his mouth that was wrapped in a few leaves of Lettuce. "Did I tell you that this was my favorite food?"

"Yeah. I asked my mom to make it tonight two days ago. I thought that it would make you happy."

"Oh, thanks." Changkyun feels a tiny blush appearing on his cheeks and lowers his face towards the plate, shoving in a mouthful of rice. "Can you turn this up a bit? Thank God this has Korean subtitles."

"Wouldn't you understand it anyways since you lived in Boston for 6 years? I mean, Family Guy was something you watched all the time, right?" Jooheon reaches over and grabs the remote control, turning up the sound a bit. "Hey, are those clothes comfortable for you?"

"Yeah, I picked a large tank top of yours. I hope you don't mind." Changkyun coughs, fixing the strap of the tank top so that it wouldn't fall farther off of his shoulders.

"It's alright. I see you're beginning to get more confident about showing your skin." He feels Jooheon's index finger tracing the scars on his left shoulder. He remembers trying to cover them up, but when one day him and Jooheon were out walking, the sleeve of his shirt slipped down a bit and before he tried to cover them up, Jooheon had seen the red cuts beginning to fade on his bony shoulder.

_"I don't know why you do it, and I'm not going to pry like I did last time. I'm not going to yell at you like Hyungwon did. But, next time you feel like doing it, come to me or text me, anytime. You know to come to me. Okay?"_

"Y-Yeah, I am." Changkyun stutters, replaying Jooheon's words over and over in his head.

"Did you ever stop?"

"6 months ago, yes."

"I'm proud of you. You know that, right?" Jooheon comforts him, rubbing his shoulder softly before Changkyun becomes uncomfortable and sits his plate next to him, before sitting up quickly and grabbing a t-shirt from one of the drawers.

He is sick and tired of feeling like a charity case. He knows Jooheon is truly worried, but what he did to himself is now in the past, and he'd rather not talk about it. Changkyun turns the front of himself away from Jooheon and speedily changes into the large black tee. "I'm tired." He croaks out, and Jooheon nods, taking both of their plates and running downstairs to the kitchen, throwing it into the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

By the time Jooheon walks back upstairs, Changkyun finds himself knocked out cold. As he's sleeping, he feels a blanket cover him and Jooheon's hand pat him on the shoulder, plus a tiny kiss on the cheek. "Good Night, young one."

And if Changkyun was awake, boy, he would've laughed his ass off and get into a playful argument with Jooheon about their age difference.


	4. Jooheon

**[Small Hyung- 12:43 am]: Jooheon come to McDonald's with all of us!**

**[Small Hyung- 12:47 am]: Lee Jooheon I swear to God if you don't answer me.**

**[Small Hyung- 12:55 am]: FUCK JOOHEON WE'RE NOT SPENDING ALL MORNING IN A DAMN MCDONALDS.**

Jooheon hears his phone vibrate so many times on the table he wants to smash his head against the bedframe. He wakes up to three texts from Kihyun, two from Hyungwon, one from Minhyuk, one from Hoseok and one from Hyunwoo.

**[Grandpa Hyunwoo- 12:57 am]: Dude they wanted all of us to gather at McDonald's & I'm not going to waste 70 years of my life for you & Changkyun so hurry up please :)**

**[Small Face, Long Body- 12:58 am]: Jooheon. Hyunwoo is going to slit our throats if you two don't hurry up.**

**[Small Face, Long Body- 1:05 am]: JOOHEON HURRY THE HELL UP**

**[SpiderMinhyuk- 1:09 am]: Jooheon if you & Changkyun don't hurry up Hoseok is going to dump his chocolate milkshake down my shirt.**

**[Pretty Boy- 1:12 am]: I will kill you & Changkyun if you two don't hurry your asses up.**

"Your phone blowing up too?" Changkyun mumbles next to him, and Jooheon nods, stretching and almost rolling on top of the younger. "What are you waiting for? Let's get dressed and go!"

"Are you serious?" Jooheon yawns. "You know what? Fuck it. You want the clothes you wore here or you want some of mine?" He stands up and brushes himself off, grabbing a pair of black jeans and throwing a thin sweatshirt over top of his tank top. Jooheon throws Changkyun a pair of jeans as well.

"So, how are we going to get past your mom and dad?"

Jooheon scoffs. It really isn't hard to get past his parents, they could really care less about what happens to him since they're too concerned with their own personal lives to see that their kid is so deattached from them that even a hug doesn't feel right from them. But the last time he ever got one, he really doesn't remember. "You really think they'll care if I leave? My mom sleeps like a brick and my dad works from twelve until seven. No one cares where I'm at anyways."

"Now, that's not true." He feels Changkyun places a hand on his shoulder as Jooheon throws on a snapback. "Where would I be without my smartass, caring friend who is sometimes a dumbass with the way he acts?"

Both of them laugh, and when Jooheon slaps him on the chest, they get into an old-fashioned slap fight before they carefully and quietly run down the stairs and out the door.

Four blocks later do they find themselves at the 24-hour McDonald's, and when they walk in, Jooheon feels a Chicken Nugget smack him in his cheekbone and Changkyun has a French Fry literally thrown directly into his mouth. "It's about damn time you guys show up!"

"Well shit Kihyun, I really felt like sleeping instead of waking myself up at the crack of ass to eat McDonald's with you dumbasses." Jooheon chuckles, pushing Hyungwon, Minhyuk and Hoseok to the side so that he could fit in the side of the booth, and Changkyun does the same with Hyunwoo and Kihyun. "I'm surprised you didn't get a chocolate milkshake down your shirt," Changkyun laughs, looking at Minhyuk who groans.

"I'm a slut for Chocolate Milkshakes. This cup of chocolatey goodness would always go down my throat before it goes down Minhyuk's nonexistent abs that he claims he has."

Jooheon chokes on a chicken nugget that he steals from the 20-piece that Hyunwoo bought all of them. Kihyun lays his head down on the table and gasps for air, Changkyun is choking on a fry, while Hyunwoo is choking on his Pepsi. Minhyuk lets out a dramatic gasp while Hyungwon seems like he's dying of laughter on Minhyuk's shoulder, and Hoseok has a tiny smirk as he continues to down his milkshake.

Jooheon's phone vibrates in his front pocket and checks it out quickly while everyone is continuing with their loud ass conversation.

**[Douchecanoe- 1:29 am]: I know you said to stop contacting you, but we need to clear this up before it gets out of hand.**

"Excuse me for a few minutes, my fellow brethren," Jooheon slides out of the booth and pushes the door open to call someone who he really didn't feel like talking to.

"What did you want?" Jooheon sighs out, once the person on the other line decides to pick up his phone. "I'm serious Gunhee. I told you to not contact me ever again but here you are, not listening and trying to set me the fuck off."

"I wanted to call and see how you were doing."

"So, you already lied to me. I don't even know why I called Gunhee, you betrayed me and Changkyun."

"How'd I betray Changkyun?"

Jooheon sucks in a deep breath and exhales for a few seconds. He knew Gunhee was going to call him sooner or later and ruin his night.  He was tired of making himself feel like shit, and now it's time to make Gunhee feel the same way. "How did you betray Changkyun? I don't know Gunhee, maybe because you were making out with Yoonoh, _his fucking boyfriend._ That's why I gave you and him a black eye or wherever I hit you that left a bruise. You both deserved it."

"In all honesty," Gunhee begins to talk, and Jooheon sucks in another breath and rubs at his temple. He knows Gunhee is going to try and defend himself and Yoonoh with his bullshit lies. "I didn't know Changkyun and Yoonoh were dating. And you saw the beer bottles, we were both drunk and it just happened. I can't apologize to you more than I already have, Jooheon. I'm sorry."

"So you two were drunk? Explains a lot. And you didn't know Changkyun and Yoonoh were dating? I call bullshit on that one, because when all of us hung out, they used to hold hands and kiss each other all the time. So do not tell me you didn't know that those two were dating, because you saw them being all lovey-dovey with one another. And if you're really that sorry as you say you are, do not contact me anymore. I'm fucking done with you, and I'm glad you're happy with yourself."

"But-"

"Do not 'but' me Song Gunhee, you were dating me and you fucking blew it." Jooheon says fiercely before hanging up the phone and calming himself down just a bit.

By the time he walked back in, Changkyun was now eating a Big Mac, there were 10 chicken biggest left (mostly because Hyungwon and Hyunwoo were shoving them down their throats), Hoseok had another chocolate shake and Kihyun and Minhyuk both had a large fry. "Where the fuck is my food?" Jooheon laughs.

"Right here," Changkyun flashes a smile and hands him a Big Mac. "I found money in my pocket so I decided to buy you one. I hope I got the right condiments and stuff on it, I don't really remember what you liked on it."

Jooheon sits down and his phone vibrates, he doesn't want to check it. Unwrapping the burger, he takes a large bite out of it while Changkyun cocks his head to the side. "Thanks, puppy."

"You're welcome," Changkyun takes a sip of his soda. "You fucknugget."

They look over and Gunhee's group of friends come crowding in, and Jooheon himself tenses then looks over at Changkyun, who sighs loudly and covers his face with his hands, because of course Yoonoh had to be there as well. "Jooheon! How are you?"

"Leave me the fuck alone, Gunhee. Now isn't the time or place." Jooheon mumbles, gripping his pants tightly and suddenly Yoonoh pops up next to him. "Oh hey Changkyun, didn't expect to see you here."

"Really? Because you know we come here almost every two weeks around this time, you asshole. So no, you knew I was going to be here so you, Gunhee and your crew over there can make us feel like absolute shit. So no, fuck you. Get out of my face, cheater." Changkyun blurts out before eating again.

"Oh now's not the time for hostility." Gunhee chimes in, and Hyungwon stretches over the table to try and grab Jooheon's wrist, but was too late and the younger stands up quickly and gets in his ex's face.

He's sick and tired of it. Sick and tired of Gunhee showing up at times where he is having fun and wants to turn it into shit. Jooheon wants one day where he doesn't have to worry about Gunhee and his parents anymore. He doesn't want to deal with people that never cared for him nor loved him in the first place.

"I'm sick and fucking tired of you showing up at random and making me look like an asshole in front of everyone! I'm not the cheater! I'm not the one who constantly lied about where I was at or what I was doing! You want to know why I believed you? Because I thought for a period of my life I thought I'd actually be loved and appreciated by someone. And you think Yoonoh is going to defend you? You two just hooked up and _bam!_ that was it, just a hookup. Both of you had no concern about your significant other, so don't try to make me look like the bad guy when in reality I wasn't sleeping around with my best friend's boyfriend! Everyone thinks your some sort of fucking saint, when in reality you're nothing like it."

Everyone was silent. Hoseok stopped slurping his milkshake, Minhyuk and Kihyun stopped eating their fries, Hyungwon didn't even try to butt in like he usually would, and Hyunwoo and Changkyun stopped eating their burgers. "Jooheon-"

"I'm not done." Jooheon cuts Kihyun off, his voice cracking. And now he regrets even talking in the first place, because tears of frustration were welling in his eyes. He refuses to cry in front of any of them. "You think you're the shit now, but when someone cheats on you in the future, and I hope someone does, you'll realize what pain you caused me and Changkyun. So, why don't you take your little lying, cheating ass out of here and leave me alone. Okay? Okay."

Jooheon watches as the other two throw their hands up in the air symbolizing defeat. "Alright, alright, we'll leave. Bye guys."

Yoonoh walks over and places his hands on Changkyun's shoulders. "See ya, Changkyun." 

Changkyun stands up quickly, the table shakes and making the boys hold on to their drinks tightly. A slap echoes through the air, and Yoonoh holds his face as he walks away. "Don't you _dare_ touch me, No Yoonoh."

Jooheon watches as the crew walks away and he storms into the bathroom. He props his arm up against the mirror and places his head in the crook of his elbow, beginning to sob out of frustration.

Jooheon just can't believe how Gunhee and Yoonoh just made him look like a total ass in front of everyone, yet he really doesn't care anymore. He's tired of piling up his feelings inside of him, because he knows no one would care. Except Changkyun.

Changkyun, for some reason, has a really big heart, and is always open to what people have to say. Jooheon realizes that everytime he pours himself out to Changkyun, the younger always seems to listen and when Jooheon is done ranting off his feelings, Changkyun always comforts him afterwords.

"Jooheon? Are you okay?" Speaking of the young boy, his body is pressed up against the bathroom door, his arms crossed with his left leg crossing his right. "I know he just ruined your night, hell, he ruined mine. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Look at you, asking me if I want to talk about it. I just cried out of frustration. You, on the other hand, your tears are already falling. Why's that?"

"I hate hitting people, but I just had to do it. I didn't want his hands on me at all, and I didn't know what else to do. Just... _Oh fucking hell."_ Changkyun huffs, slamming his fist against the bathroom door and letting out a strangled cry. Jooheon goes over and wraps his arms around the younger, letting him cry on his shoulder. Trying to hold in his tears wasn't easy, but hell, he'll do it, because that'd what he does all the time.

~

  
"Lee Jooheon! It is three in the fucking morning! Where have you been?"

"McDonald's, mother dearest. But don't you worry! Your kid isn't dead yet like you want him to be!" Jooheon throws on a sarcastic smile and makes his voice go higher just a bit to irk her soul. He walked Changkyun home although the younger didn't want to go, but Jooheon knew he'd probably get his ass handed to him and didn't want Changkyun to see.

Damn, he _really is_ protective of the younger. 

A nicely manicured hand comes up to slap him, and he ducks the hand as quickly as possible. "Don't you dare get an attitude with me Jooheon! You think you can do and go wherever you please but that just isn't the case! You know I care about you!"

"You know I care about you!"

Jooheon internally scoffs. His mother thinks Changkyun is still here so she puts on her fake "good mother" act.

"Wow, you really are two faced. Putting on a good show just because you think my friend is still here. So cut the shit out for a few minutes." Jooheon rakes his fingers through his hair and storms back out the door, heading God knows where.

Roaming the streets, Jooheon rounds the corner and finds Kihyun sitting up against a building wall, head tucked in between his knees, his body wracking with silent sobs. "Kihyun," he kneels down, grimacing as his knee joints crack. "Hey, it's Jooheon. Are you okay? What happened?"

"I-I got jumped. I-It's okay."

"No, it's not. Let me take you to Hyunwoo's house and we can get you cleaned up, okay?" He sees Kihyun nod, and Jooheon carefully wraps an arm around the elder's torso, helping him stand up carefully as a groan escapes Kihyun's mouth.

Walking a few more blocks, Jooheon bursts into the door, seeing Hyungwon, Hoseok, Minhyuk and Hyunwoo piled up on the couch. "Ahem! Medical assistance! Kihyun just got jumped!"

That's when they all fly off the couch, Hyungwon and Hyunwoo directing them to the medical supplies in the kitchen drawer. Hoseok sits him down at the kitchen table, grabbing the hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls and bandaids.

Jooheon has to walk out of the room, he can't bear to see one his friends that beat up and bloody. Kihyun has a few bruises on his face, he refuses for Hoseok to treat his arms, and said that he'll treat them himself at home.

Jooheon's had his fair share of fights, he's not going to lie, but he'd never stoop down so low as to have him and his friends jump someone. Changkyun, Hoseok and Hyungwon are absolutely afraid of physical contact, Kihyun really doesn't give a flying fuck if he has to beat someone up or not, nor does Minhyuk or Hyunwoo. "Hey, I'll stay here with Minhyuk, Hyungwon and Hoseok if you can drive Kihyun home safely. Please?"

He watches at Hyunwoo grabs his car keys and twirls them around his finger. "C'mon Kihyun, let's get you home, okay?"

Jooheon flops down on the couch, and for some odd reason he can't fall back asleep like he did earlier. For some reason it feels weird and uncomfortable, maybe because he had Changkyun snuggled up to him the entire night.

Yeah, I guess you could say he was pretty okay with Changkyun doing that.


	5. Kihyun

"Yoo Kihyun! It is now 3:30 in the morning! Where have you been? Is that alcohol I smell?!" His aunt yells once he walks into the door, and Kihyun really doesn't want to deal with her this early in the morning.

"I was with Minhyuk, Hyungwon, Hyunwoo, Hoseok and Minhyuk, and no, it's not alcohol. Thanks for the concern though."

"Well you know I don't like you hanging out with those boys, Kihyun. And I'm pretty sure your parents wouldn't either."

Kihyun sucks in a deep breath, and with all of his pent up anger and his force, punches the living room wall with his right hand, but the force of the hit doesn't break the wall. He is sick and tired of her bringing up his dead parents to make him feel bad about his choices, yet his uncle doesn't give a flying fuck about who Kihyun hangs out with or how late he stays out at night, as long as he comes home safe or lets him know if he's spending the night somewhere. "How long are you going to keep using that? _'I'm pretty sure your parents wouldn't like what you're doing. I'm pretty sure your parents wouldn't like who you're hanging out with.'_ Maybe for once, you should stop bringing them up because you know it hurts me, yet you don't give a shit! Next time you bring them up, why don't you think about how long you haven't seen them? It's been what, a year now since you last seen them? I've been going to see them almost _every damn day_ since they've passed away. I tell them about my day, how it was and what happened, and how I feel, because I know you sure don't do it nor do you care about me anyways." 

His aunt stays silent as she moves closer to him and tries to reach for his hand, which his knuckles are covered in blood. "Don't act like you care," he sneers, pulling his hand back and away from her. "Go worry about your own kids. I'm not your kid."

"You know I love you like my own!"

"Really? Because if you were worried about me like your own, you'd be worrying about the fact that I got jumped! But you know what? That's alright, because I could be dead and none of you would care anyways. So don't bother." Kihyun runs up the stairs and falls on top of his bed, his face buried into the pillow.

_"Momma! May I go to... M-Momma?"_

_Two bodies and large amounts of blood._

_That's all that crosses his line of vision before he collapses into the corner of the living room, emptying the contents of his stomach before he calls the police._

_A double murder, they say it is. Kihyun can't get it through his head. Why were his parents killed and left in large puddles of their own blood? Did anyone have anything against them that Kihyun didn't know about?_

_Why did it happen?_

_They said that it was an attempted robbery gone bad, saying there was a struggle with his mother and the robber before she was shot first, then his father was after trying to defend himself, the ME said._

_Kihyun couldn't shake the image out of his head. His mother and father sprawled out on the living room floor, the blood seeping in through the cream-colored carpet._

Kihyun's screams are muffled into the pillow, tears flowing and beginning to seep into the blanket that his mother made him back when he was 10 or 11. He clutches the hand-knitted blanket tightly before letting go of it, and Kihyun tries his hardest, he really does, to not smash the mirror that shows his bruised reflection.

He does it anyways. The fist that hit the living room wall collides with the full-length mirror, he doesn't feel any glass in his hand, but then again, he really doesn't care.

**[Hyunwoo- 3:40 am]: I hope you know I'm still outside your house in my car because you forgot a few things of yours. In fact, come back to the house and get your hand treated again since I just heard a damn mirror smash. Hoseok's there too, asleep. Come back, please.**

Kihyun sighs loudly and rakes his fingers through his tussled hair, walking out of his room and walking over to his cousin's room, kissing the twins on their foreheads while they're sound asleep, and then walks down the steps and almost makes it towards the front door when his Aunt's shrill voice cuts through the silence like a knife.

"Where in the _hell_ do you think you're going?"

"I left some stuff over at Hyunwoo's house. If you don't mind I'm going to go and get all of it, _ma'am_."

His Aunt storms off of the couch and a perfectly manicured hand slaps him across the right side of his face. Kihyun looks down for a few seconds before looking back up and seeing her eyes widen in shock. "Kihyun, honey, I-"

 _"Don't touch me."_ Kihyun hisses harshly with gritted teeth throwing her hand off of his shoulder and whipping the door open and slaming it so hard he swears he hears a picture frame fall off of the top of the fireplace. He doesn't even make it to Hyunwoo's parked car before he slumps down onto his front steps and breaks down in tears, his body racking with sobs so hard it makes Kihyun feel like his entire body is numb.

"Kihyun, it's alright, come with me." Hyunwoo's voice rings out, and Kihyun looks up with red and puffy eyes to see Hyunwoo's hand reaching out to him. He grips tightly onto the older's hand, forcing himself up and walking to Hyunwoo's car, shutting the passenger side door carefully so that it wouldn't hurt the car.

Minutes go by in silence while Hyunwoo drives another 30 minutes to his home. No words are being exchanged, and Kihyun knows both of them don't really know what to say to one another.

They stop at the next intersection, the light staying red for what Kihyun thinks is 10 minutes, but maybe it's because he's extremely tired and really impatient.

"You're a really good friend." Kihyun blurts out, his voice raspy from all the crying and for him not talking for so long. "I hope you know that. Thank you."

"No, thank you. That really means a lot to me Kihyun." Kihyun realizes that without Hyunwoo as a rock for all of them, they'd all be either six feet underground or in prison.

They drive another 15 minutes before Kihyun blurts out something that pulls at both of their heartstrings. "How do you do it, Hyunwoo? How do you act like a father to all of us? Understanding us and helping us? Care for us?"

"Because I try and give to you guys what I didn't have growing up."

_Oh, well damn._

"D-Did he leave you?" Kihyun stutters, rolling up the window until only the top of the window was cracked, leaving in a small breeze while Hyunwoo's was the whole day open. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said-"

"You're fine. Yeah, he left when I was two. We lived with my mom's parents until I was 15. They all worked their asses off to support me, but it's alright. When you grow up without a parent, you realize you really don't need to depend on the one who missed out on your life since you were born. You don't need to depend on someone who doesn't care about their child."

"You're crying." Kihyun whispers, looking down into his lap and playing with his fingers, now that the blood dried up on his hand. Now, everyone knows that Hyunwoo never really opened up about his father's side of the family, nor mentioned his father at all, only his mom and her family. "I didn't mean to bring it up Hyunwoo, I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You did nothing wrong." Hyunwoo responds, pulling into his driveway and shutting off the car. Kihyun watches as Hoseok unlocks and opens the front door with a tired smile. "Oh? I thought you were dropping him off at home?"

"He busted his hand open. Can you help clean it up? I work in a few hours, so I'm going to sleep." Hyunwoo walks into the house first, his words spoken with a monotone voice so perfectly it visibly makes Hoseok and him flinch simultaneously. Hoseok grabs Kihyun's uninjured hand and softly pulls him into the house, locking the door behind them.

Kihyun is being lead to the bathroom and sat down on the toilet while Hoseok begins to clean up the cut, wrapping gauze and a wrap around it after cleaning out the bacteria of the cut. "Is he okay?" Kihyun hears Hoseok say, looking up at him with tired eyes. "What happened?"

"I mentioned how he takes care of us like a father, and he mentions how his father left him when he was two. God, I feel like shit."

"Don't feel like shit. You didn't know."

"Did you?" Kihyun asks, cocking his head to the side and groaning as his neck cracks.

"Not at all. Now what happened to you?" Hoseok changes the subject, but it doesn't make Kihyun feel any better. "How did you cut open your knuckles and most of your hand?"

"Punched a mirror. Had a flashback about my parents." Kihyun goes back to mumbling, his left index finger and thumb running over the bandages Hoseok put on his other hand. "I really don't feel like talking about it, please."

"And I won't force you to," Hoseok sucks in a small breath and exhales slowly. "Now come on, you can share the couch with me."

"You sure?" Kihyun asks. God, he's spent so many nights at Hyunwoo's house and now it feels weird, like he's beginning to intrude on something he shouldn't be, or maybe because of how he made Hyunwoo feel. "I mean, I don't want to take up much of the room when you sleep."

"It's fine," Hoseok laughs and tosses Kihyun a pillow and some pajamas. "Now go and change. It's been a rough day for all of us."

Kihyun wakes up at six-thirty in the morning to a tiny kiss on the forehead, and his eyes are half-open when he sees Hyunwoo walk over and do the same to Hoseok, but he doesn't wake up like he did. Watching Hyunwoo walk over to the door, spinning around his car keys on his right index finger, Kihyun watches as he mouths something to him:

_"I'm not mad at you. You did nothing wrong."_

And Kihyun swears he feels a tiny smile form on his face before Hyunwoo quietly walks out and latches the door shut. The only thing he feels before he falls back to sleep isn't guilt, but relieved.

Until he feels Hoseok move just a bit and his foot digs just a bit into his thigh.

"Curse you, Shin Hoseok." Kihyun mumbles, right before he falls back asleep cuddling the two pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry that I haven't been updating as much, I've had terrible writer's block. But now that it's gone, you can expect more frequent updates :). And I absolutely love the comments you guys put, they give me more motivation to contuie writing this and I just want to say thank you, you're comments make my day. :)
> 
> ~Kaylee


	6. Minhyuk

"Do you think she's going to come back?"

Hyungwon lies down on the bed, looking at his best friend as the boy stands looking out of his windows. They just woke up after they left Hyunwoo's a few hours ago, now that it was 7:30 in the morning. "Minhyuk, I don't know."

"She can't just expect my dad and his girlfriend to take on her duties of being a mother. I don't understand, she just... She can't leave her own children like this."

"It's been six months."

"But still." The older whips around from looking out the window. "Do you understand what it's like to have someone completely drop out of your life? To have your little sister ask why mommy hasn't been around? Or to hear your sister ask why mommy doesn't love her anymore?"

Hyungwon stays silent. This is the first time Minhyuk's actually ranting on something other than the lack of his favorite shoes at Journey's, why he can't find the right picks for his guitar at the guitar store, and why Hyunwoo should really quit his job at that store in the mall, but nonetheless. He doesn't even bother to say anything as Minhyuk scrolls through his phone, checking his voice mails.

_"Hello honey, how are you doing? How's school? I see you have a lot of absences and tardies, what are the reasons for those? I'm sorry that I haven't been around, Young Soo passed away and I'm having a hard time with it. I hope both you and Minyoung are okay. I love you both."_

Hyungwon looks over at the older, who turns off the speaker on his phone and looks about ready to throw it. "Take a deep breath and call her back, try and talk to her." Hyungwon suggests, and he sees Minhyuk ponder over the thought before redialing the number.

"Oh Minhyuk, Honey, I'm so glad you called!" Her voice rings through the air as Hyungwon winces at her loudness.

"I'm fine. I've only had five absences and those tardies have passes." Hyungwon tries not to scoff, he knows how the older gets down to the point straight and quick. "Thanks for asking."

"Minhyuk, I have emails saying so but okay. How are you doing? How's Minyoung?"

"She's fine," Hyungwon urges Minhyuk to take a deep breath. "And I'm wonderful."

"Are you mad at me or something? What's wrong?"

"A little yeah."

Hyungwon has the urge to walk over there and pat the boy on the shoulder, but sits on the edge of the bed and watches as the older bites his lip furiously. "Why? Do you know what happened to Young Soo?"

"Yeah, I know what happened. But what happened to you?"

Hyungwon winces at the unexpected harshness in Minhyuk's voice. His mother's boyfriend supposedly "killed himself", but no one really knows what happened.

"I can't go back to the house Minhyuk, Young Soo passed away there so I don't have a place to take you guys. I can't even get my stuff out of the house yet, and Sun Hee hasn't been there to go through stuff. I have absolutely nothing Minhyuk, and I'm on three kinds of medicines because I had a mental breakdown. I have anxiety when Young Soo died, he's the only man who ever loved us."

Hyungwon knows that set Minhyuk off of the edge. The boy's on five kinds of medications for his anxiety and panic disorder. And the "only man who ever loved us" part must of pushed him off of the edge, because the only man who's ever taken care of Minhyuk and his sister was their father and his girlfriend. Minhyuk doesn't even open his mouth to sound out another word before his mother begins to talk again.

"All I can say is Minhyuk, is that I'm sorry and I never expected this to happen."

The two make eye contact, and the older lowers his gaze and lowers the speaker away from him so that her voice isn't directly blasting his eardrums. "It's fine," Hyungwon watches as Minhyuk stumbles over his words. "You don't have to be sorry, it's whatever. But what do you mean he's the only man who ever loved us?"

"I meant like after your dad and I split. He's the only man that I fell in love with and he loved you both as well. I'm sorry I said it wrong, I didn't mean to say the only guy. I'm heartbroken. I've lost everything I ever wanted in life Minhyuk. I had a family."

"It's fine. But that's an excuse to not contact me for months and not bother to text nor call me? You basically dropped me like a bad habit."

"Where was I supposed to take you and Minyoung, Minhyuk? It's not an excuse. I didn't expect it to happen so I became homeless. And you know that the phone works both ways. You could have called me like I called you."

And now Hyungwon sees the red color appearing on Minhyuk's face. His mother always liked to turn the tables and blame stuff on him just to make him feel like complete and utter shit. He watches as the boy's free hand balls into a fist and his knuckles begin to turn various shades of red and white.

"Okay. But why are various people coming and telling me to stay with you if you have no where to go? That's a total cop-out. My phone number never changed but why do I have to reach out to you? You're the mother."

"Okay, Jung Hee." Hyungwon realizes that is Minhyuk's stepmother's name and they basically have the same attitude, except Minhyuk is more fragile. "I don't know anymore Minhyuk. I'm in between places okay. It's just whatever I have to go I'm freaking out."

"I'm saying my feelings, not hers."

"I love you guys."

"I-I love you too. But why?"

"I called you first so how did I never reach out to you? This is absolutely crazy. I know you're mad, but I am going through the same thing you went through when your grandmother died."

Hyungwon knows that just triggered an episode in the older. His grandmother raised him when his mother couldn't, when she was out doing her own thing, and she raised Minhyuk and Minyoung as if they were her own children. When their parents weren't getting along, their grandmother would take them out for the weekend, letting them do whatever they wanted as along as they were with her. She passed away about three years ago from lung cancer, and Minhyuk's never been the same since. Hyungwon watches as the boy's hands begin to shake and his face began to turn slightly pale.

"N-No, you're not. T-That's n-not the same t-thing."

"I am going through death from someone I loved, so yes it is. Everyone deals with it differently. I'm sorry you feel that it's different when it's really not. Death is death. Well I've gotta go, I just wanted to explain myself even though it doesn't matter to you at all. I will let you go, I'm sorry to even bother you. I'm freaking out I have to go."

"Wait-"

Hyungwon has to wait a few seconds in order to not frighten the older, who's showing signs of an panic and/or anxiety attack. Getting up from the bedside, he carefully places his hands on Minhyuk's shoulders and grabs the bottle of Xanax from the top of the dresser. "Minhyuk, listen, can you take this for me please? Please take your meds for me, it'll make us both happier." He watches as the shaky hand reaches for the pinkish-red pills and the bottle of water sitting next to him, then he takes the pills in two swallows.

"God, man, I'm sorry." He feels arms wrap around him, bony arms circling around his back. Minhyuk's face buries into Hyungwon's neck as the younger feels tears soaking the fabric of his shirt. He feels his heart slowly breaking, because Minhyuk shouldn't have to apologize for something he can't control. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Minhyuk," Hyungwon puts his hands on the sides of the other's face, lifting his head up. "This isn't your fault. _This isn't your fault._ You didn't create this situation, she did. You didn't ask for her to leave you, you didn't ask for her to emotionally _abuse_ you like this. You didn't-"

Minyoung walks in through the bedroom door and waves shyly. "Jung Hee said brekafast is done! Hyungwon oppa, Jung Hee wants to know if she should make up a pancake for you?"

"Can you tell Jung Hee to please hold on for about five minutes? Please honey?" Hyungwon looks at the clock and wonders how in the hell people can wake up at seven thirty in the morning.

"Let's go down there and eat." Minhyuk reaches up and pats the younger's head, hopping down the stairs a few seconds after Minyoung shuts his bedroom door.

"God, I love your cooking, Jung Hee" Hyungwon groans out, eating the cinnamon and chocolate chip pancakes. Minhyuk stays silent and forcefully swallowing the food, after that panic attack he wasn't really hungry as he was an hour before than.

"Minhyuk honey, are you okay?" Jung Hee asks, sitting down and pouring herself a cup of coffee. She blows on it and takes a small sip before looking at Minhyuk.

He was tired. Tired of being abandoned, tired of feeling like shit, tired of constantly explaining to Minyoung why their mom isn't around anymore. Instead, Minhyuk just stays silent and finishes his food before there's a knock on the door, and Minhyuk slumps open the door to find Jooheon, Changkyun, Hanbin and Jiwon crowded outside the door.

"Jesus H. Christ, why are Hanbin and Jooheon covered in blood? Looks like you guys murdered someone-"

"Holy fuck." Hyungwon creeps up anf stands behind Minhyuk, almost scaring the piss out of him. "What the hell did you guys do?"

Minhyuk glances at Changkyun and taps his foot impatiently like a parent would, in fact, he learned it from his deadbeat mom. "What happened?"

"Hanbin was getting beat up and Jooheon's dumb self decided to jump in. We didn't do anything."

Minhyuk sighs. "What kind of shit did you do to get beat up at the crack of freaking dawn, Hanbin?" Minhyik looks at him up and down, the younger is sporting a black eye and a split lip, while Jooheon has a few bruises and blood here and there. "You know what, don't answer-"

"No, no, Minhyuk isn't here at the moment, he's with his friends." He hears Jung Hee yell into the phone. "... Take care of him more often and maybe he'll start opening up to you, deadbeat."

All Minhyuk wants to do now is repeatedly smack his head off of the wall until he passes out, but since Minyoung is there, he doesn't want to. He doesn't know how to feel anymore, his anxiety gets the best of him and now, he doesn't even care about anything anymore.

And he wonders why he got into this situation with his mom, then he begins to repeat Hyungwon's words in his head over and over again until they begin to sink into his brain.

_"This isn't your fault... You didn't create this situation, she did... You didn't ask for her to leave you, you didn't ask for her to emotionally abuse you."_

"Jung Hee! Please hang up on her before I flip out!" Minhyuk yells, and Hyungwon's hand comfortly pats his shoulder when he bends down and grabs his shoes. "I'm leaving with Hyungwon and the others!"

Minhyuk runs into the kitchen again as quick as he can, and kisses Minyoung on her forehead, she's still eating her pancakes. "Bye Minnie, I'll see you later, okay?"

"Bye Hyukkie!" She flashes him a bright, toothy grin with two teeth missing, and Minhyuk feels his heartstrings being tugged at. If he ever lost Minyoung, that'd be it for him.

"So, mind telling us what exactly happened?" Hyungwon laugjs out and closes the door behind them all, and Minhyuk wonders where he would be without any of the careless idiots he hangs out with on a daily basis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the way that Minhyuk's mother is portrayed in this chapter is based off of my mother. The phone conversation he has with her are actual texts that me and my own mother shared. I just thought I'd tell you all :) The next chapter should be posted soon! :)
> 
> ~Kaylee <3


	7. Hyunwoo

"It's been already six hours since I've started my shift Donghyun, I feel like smashing my head off of the wall." Hyunwoo groans, propping his head up and watching customers pass by his line since he decided to close it for a "lunch break."

By lunch break, he means getting the hell away from these impatient customers before he ends up killing someone. Of course he had to get a job inside the mall, JcPenney, and he regrets all of his life choices. Hyunwoo also regrets getting pissed off at Kihyun last night and not talking to him, but now he feels a bit better since mouthing an apology before he left.

Hyunwoo looks over to see Donghyun closing up his line and reaching over for a bag of chips that Hyunwoo bought before coming in to work. "Dude, it's 1:30 in the afternoon," Donghyun complains to him. "I don't get off until we close at 9."

"But your shift started at 11, three hours after mine, so you're lucky."

"You started working at seven?" Donghyun unscrews his bottle of Dr. Pepper and proceeds to almost choke. "My God, I would be dead by now."

"At least I get off earlier than you, at 2:15." Hyunwoo laughs, before his phone buzzes in his pants pocket. Kihyun's name pops up on the screen, and Hyunwoo laughs when he sees Donghyun's strong gaze.

"You lucky son of a bitch."

**[Kihyun- 1:42 pm]: I just wanted to tell you that Hoseok and I are at the hospital, so that you wouldn't be worried about where we were.**

Walking out of the store and to a quiet place in the mall (which is very hard, mind you), he dials Kihyun's number, pacing back and forth. Why in the bloody hell are Hoseok and Kihyun at the hospital? He hears coughing through the line before Kihyun's voice rings through the speaker. "Everything's alright. Hoseok's just getting stitches."

"Good God. What even happened?" Hyunwoo sighs, now he realizes why they call him dad all the time. He's too worried about the others too much and not about himself most of the time. Kihyun keeps coughing, and Hyunwoo raises an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"Just catching a minor cold, I'll be fine. A glass broke while he was doing the dishes and he cut his hand open, not that long, but it was a bit deep and I asked your neighbor to take me, the elderly one." Kihyun rushes out before he lets out another loud cough.

"Well, I get off in about," Hyunwoo removes his phone from his ear and looks at the time. "Five minutes. When do you think you two will be back at the house?"

"About 10 or 20, they just got him in. And Hyunwoo?"

"Yeah?" He responds, walking back into the store quickly to grab his drink before running back out to the space in between Abercrombie & Fitch and Macy's. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry about mentioning your dad earlier this morning, and it'll never happen again, I promise you."

_"Can't you just tell me where he went, or why he left? Please?"_

_"I don't know Hyunwoo, stop asking and go worry about something else."_

_"It's been 13 years!" 15 year old Hyunwoo yells out, startling his mother and somehow he doesn't feel bad. "Don't you understand? Everyone does fun stuff with their father and I've been wondering for 13 years where the hell he went to! So, do you know or not? Because I'm tired of waiting for one day for him to pop in my life, for me to actually get to know him. Why did he leave?"_

_Silence fills the air and Hyunwoo swears he could feel the tension in the kitchen. His mother was reading the paper before she looks up from the consumer section, sighing and raking her hand through her hair._

_"He didn't want a child. There Hyunwoo, are you happy now? Knowing that your dad did not want you? Or want a family for that matter? He couldn't handle us, that's why he left. I don't know where he's at, but if for some damn reason you want to look for him when you turn 18 or 19 then that's your decision, not mine. You don't remember him anyways Hyunwoo, so you mind as well give up hope now before you do something you'll regret."_

"Hyunwoo?" Kihyun's concerned voice rings out, shaking Hyunwoo out of the flashback of what happened three years ago. "Are you there? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just remembering something. And like I said, you're fine, I apologized earlier and told you that you were fine. It's no big deal, really."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Hyunwoo walks back into the store and grabs his keys, covering the speaker and yelling a loud 'goodbye dickface' to Donghyun, and Hyunwoo's surprised the customers didn't hear him curse as he walks back out of the store, clocking out.

Starting the car, Hyunwoo props his phone up on the stand and puts Kihyun on speaker. "Why are you apologizing so much? It's nothing to worry about."

"Because I feel bad about it." Kihyun responds, yawning loudly through the speaker. Hyunwoo lets out a little chuckle, stopping at the red light before it turns green quickly. "So, did you guys leave the hospital yet? Or is Hoseok still getting stitches?"

"We're almost home, you do realize you only live 10 minutes from the hospital right?" Kihyun laughs loudly, and all Hyunwoo can hear in the background is Hoseok groaning loudly in pain.

"Pass the phone to Hoseok." Hyunwoo sighs, stopping at another light before driving again. "Hey, you doing alright? How many stitches did you get?"

"I'll be fine, thanks for asking. And I got nine stitches down my right thumb, stupid ass glass." Hoseok mumbles, letting out a loud chuckle. Hyunwoo laughs, how many injuries are going to happen to the these boys in one day?, Hyunwoo thinks.

"I'm gonna hang up since I'm almost home. Tell Kihyun that, okay? Goodbye."

Hyunwoo hears Hoseok let out a tiny grunt and an 'I will', before hanging up. All of a sudden, Jooheon begins to call as Hyunwoo is almost 5 minutes away from his house. "Whatdya want?"

"Squad's meeting up at your house if that's alright with you."

"Jooheon, buddy, when do I never let the squad hang out at my house? Is it just us or is there more? I'll stop at the grocery store and grab alcoholic beverages, juice and snacks, all that good stuff."

"Jinhwan, Hanbin, and Jiwon." Jooheon laughs again. "Oh, and there's no need. You have tons of food and drinks in the house."

"Are you guys _in my house?_ " Hyunwoo groans, then he remembers he has a spare key hidden underneath the potted plant in his front yard. "That was a stupid question. Just don't drink anything yet. Who else is there?"

"Everyone besides you, Hoseok and Kihyun, but- oh never mind they just walked in the door." Jooheon chuckles, as soon as Hyunwoo pulls into his driveway and hangs up the phone, shoving it into his front pocket and walking into the house, Jooheon holding up his phone.

"Thanks for hanging up on me, fucker. Dude," Hyunwoo watches as Jooheon's eyes widen and rushes over to Hoseok, looking at his hand. "What happened?"

"He got cut by glass while washing the dishes." Kihyun answers, coughing into his elbow. "And I didn't get to clean off the b-"

"I cleaned the blood off of the counter," Changkyun interrupts, walking into the living room next to Hanbin, gesturing to him. "Hanbin helped me clean it up while I was fixing him up."

Hyunwoo throws his shoes near the side of the couch, wondering if he is going to pick them up later when all the kids are probably going to to be obliterately drunk off their asses, and since Hyunwoo has off tomorrow, he really does want to have a few drinks himself. "I wonder how half of you guys aren't dead yet with all the fights you get into."

"Same," Jinhwan pipes up, sitting on Jiwon's lap on the couch, popping open a bottle of Smirnoff and taking a swig. "Hanbin got into a bad fight and Jooheon decided to jump in."

"Are you two fucking crazy?" Hyunwoo raises his voice just a bit, but he just wants those two to get through their thick skulls that violence is never the answer. "You could die. Don't you care? Jooheon, you would leave your parents behind. Hanbin, you would leave Hanbyul behind. Do you guys even think about the consequences?"

"Don't you _dare_ bring Hanbyul into this, she has nothing to do with this." Hanbin hisses out, and Minhyuk reaches to calm him down, but Hanbin throws his hand off. "Don't make me feel bad for something I had no choice over, Hyunwoo! Don't!"

"And you think my parents care? Seriously?" Jooheon blurts out. Hyunwoo didn't mean for this to start an argument, because he can now see Hoseok sitting on the steps with his head in between his legs, Hyungwon standing against the wall with his arms crossed, Jinhwan dropped his bottle on the floor shattering it, Minhyuk is looking down towards the floor, Jiwon and Kihyun are silent, and Changkyun is flinching with every raised voice.

"Stop! Just stop!" Changkyun startles all of them. "For God's sake, can't we all just get along for two fucking minutes without arguing. Please?"

Hyunwoo, Jooheon and Hanbin start to apologize, and Hyunwoo's never felt this bad in a long time, not since him and his mom got into that argument. Jiwon eventually hands him a bottle of Smirnoff and now, Hyunwoo doesn't think anything could be any better.


	8. Mall Drama

"Good morning Ji- Dude are you vomiting in my kitchen sink? I wash my dishes there, you nasty!"

"It's not as bad as when Kihyun was throwing up in the downstairs bathroom sink." Jiwon replies, before covering his mouth when another wave of nausea hits and he vomits into the sink.

"Did anybody vomit in my upstairs sink?" Hyunwoo groans, opening up the fridge and pouting himself a glass of milk and downing it. He sees Jiwon nod, and he wants to smack some kids silly. "Who was it?"

"It was Hanbin. And then Changkyun and Jinhwan passed out there too. Changkyun's in the tub, and Jinhwan is passed out on the floor."

"Good God, they go hard with drinking."

"Well yeah, I guess Changkyun's ex called him last night and that's when he started drinking like a fish and got hammered."

"What about Minhyuk and Hyungwon? Where are they at?"

"Minhyuk's passed out on one of the couches, Hyungwon's in the spare bedroom." Jiwon replies after washing out the sink, grabbing the carton of milk and pouring himself a glass. "Hoseok's lying on top on Minhyuk," Hyunwoo shoots him a weird look. "Don't look at me like that I have no idea what happened. Jooheon's in the downstairs tub passed out, Kihyun's passed out in the pantry-"

"Oh my God. What the fuck?"

"Like I said, I have no idea about what happened I- oh look, the zombie has awoken." Jiwon points to Jinhwan, who flips him off and covers his mouth, and Hyunwoo points and looks away.

"Sink, sink, sink. For the love of Christ go to the sink." Hyunwoo repeats, and both him and Jiwon look away as Jinhwan vomits into the kitchen sink. Hyunwoo grimaces and throws him a roll of paper towels. "Don't worry about me," Jinhwan says with a scratchy voice. "Hanbin vomited in your upstairs-"

"Dude, I know. But please, don't tell me that Changkyun vomited in my bathtub." Hyunwoo pulls out a pan and grabs a carton of eggs while they hear footsteps echoing through the house.

"I threw up in your bathtub upstairs, sorry."

Jiwon spits out his milk and grasps the countertop, laughing his ass off and sees Jooheon walking in, and then the others join in. "Well well, the drunkies showed up."

"Oh shut up, asshole." Hyungwon mumbles, sitting down at the kitchen table and eating the breakfast that Hyunwoo solely prepared. "Not like you had a hangover anyways."

"True. Jinhwan and I just threw up in the kitchen sink so." Jiwon replies, swallowing a piece of bacon as Hanbin and Jooheon push away their plates in a little bit of disgust.

"I'm done."

"Me too."

"No you're not," Hyunwoo says, pushing back the plates to Jooheon and Hanbin. "Eat the breakfast I just made."

"Yes father," Jooheon chuckles as they all finish their food. "What're the plans for today?"

"Mall?" Jinhwan suggests. "Y'all go there at all? Heard that lots of people and their friends hang out there, like squads or some shit like that."

"But we don't have any clothes," Minhyuk pipes up, clearing his throat. "What're we supposed to do? All race home? Not all of us can fit in Hyunwoo's mini van unless we all sit on each others laps."

Hyunwoo finishes his drink and looks over at Minhyuk, raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes. "Do you want to get me arrested for endangering the welfare of children?"

"I have to go check on my mom and see if she isn't dead." Changkyun mumbles underneath his breath, and they all sigh. "But I don't want to."

"Gotta go see if dad isn't home so he doesn't beat the crap outta me again." Hyungwon chimes in, rubbing at his temple and grabbing the bottle of pills from on top of the fridge, handing two of them to everyone.

"I have to go home and check on my parents too, to make sure they didn't kill each other. Y'know, cute shit like that." Jooheon says to them sarcastically, after swallowing the pills.

"I don't want to go back." Hoseok whispers, before folding his arms and Hyunwoo cuts them all off.

"Wait! Wait, wait. You all have clothes here from previous times you've spent nights here. Go grab them, who needs to go home say I."

"I." Jinhwan, Jiwon, Hanbin, Changkyun and Jooheon groan out simultaneously. Hyunwoo walks over to the living room and grabs his shoes. "You guys coming or what?"

"Dude, we're all hungover. Hold on a few seconds, damn."

~

"Damn, never realized how fucked up we really are." Hoseok groans out, earning a look from Kihyun. "I mean, look at us. Kihyun, Hanbin, Jooheon and I are covered in bruises- Where's Jooheon?"

"Parents are apparently meeting up with a teacher, Mr. Lee, the gym teacher and summer school director." Changkyun cuts in, piggyback riding on Jiwon's back around the mall, who is groaning loudly.

"We need to get him out of there."

"What?"

"We need to get him out of there," Hanbin repeats himself. "He sexually assaults children. And I'll be damned if he's the next one."

"His parents are there." Hyungwon informs him again, and Hanbin shoots him a glare, rubbing at his temple. They all stop and sit at a bench near the food court.

"You honestly think that's going to stop him? Really? He can get away with anything and our school will protect him by publicizing his "great" reputation and how many years he's been teaching, they'll never fire him."

"How do you know if he does it?" Jiwon pipes up, raking his fingers through his hair. "Unless you experienced it, I mean. If not, you have no reason to talk about it."

"Don't you dare try and tell someone that they haven't been through something like that when they possible have."

"Kihyun, sit the fuck down." Jinhwan puts a hand on Kihyun's shoulder, before it was thrown off with such force that Kihyun's arm cracks. "Yoo Kihyun!"

"Yell at me one more time I swear-"

"You were one of them too." Hanbin pipes up, wiping his sweaty palms on his thighs. "I can tell, you've always been shaking and sweating around him. You're always zoned out around him or near him."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm one of them, and-"

"I'm here, I'm here!" Jooheon chants out, running into the mall and placing his hands on his knees. "God, I'm so tired."

"Are you okay?" Changkyun blurts out, it's been his first words since the minutes of silence and the argument happened. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No," Jooheon breathes out, gasping for breath. "Told my parents that I didn't have to retake his class next year because he's moving districts. He almost did though, when my parents went back to the car. I punched him and walked back, telling him that if he put his dirty hands on me like he did all those others I'd make sure he'd never see the light of day again."

"Oh, well shit." Hyunwoo mumbles, patting Hanbin's shoulder. "Let's go hang around the mall for a bit, alright?"

~

"Dude, what the hell are you drinking?"

"Something with a lot of fucking caffeine," Hoseok replies, taking a sip out of Hyungwon's drink, the younger flicking him on the forehead.

"You are so lucky that you bought an iced coffee." Minhyuk groans from across the table, shaking his head as Jinhwan spilled vanilla iced coffee all over Minhyuk's right thigh. Hyunwoo rubs his temple and laughs, handing them napkins.

"Well thank the Lord that there's a napkin dispenser-"

"Dongsun, please let me go."

"No."

Hyungwon starts frantically hitting everyone's shoulders as Dongsun and Hoseok argue in front of Starbucks.

"I'm going to go and help him." Changkyun stands up from the table before Jooheon pulls him back down and shaking his head. "Why the hell not?"

"Because you can't even defend yourself half of the time!" Jooheon hisses back, letting go of Changkyun, and yet he stands back up again. "Changkyun! For God's Sake, sit the fuck down! Changkyun!"

"You're leaving a bruise Dongsun, please!" Hoseok begs, trying to pull the older's hand off but with no success. Until Changkyun's hand rips Dongsun's off of his does he have a shocked look on his face. "Changkyun, please."

"You think you're tough shit, huh? Laying your hands on your boyfriend just because you think you're more superior? Hate to break it to you, but you're not. If you think you're tough shit, then hit me. Hit me like you do Hoseok, but that'd be cowardly, because that's all you are. A coward. If you really loved him, you wouldn't lay a fucking finger on him and treat him like he's the most precious person to you."

"Changkyun please-"

"I'm not done Hoseok. Please, let me get it through his thick skull that you aren't a damn punching bag, that you're not a plaything." Changkyun interrupts, running his fingers through his hair as Hoseok nods, his face looking down at his feet.

Meanwhile, Jooheon is looking at the younger, tapping his fingers questly against the table as Hyungwon, Jiwon and Hyunwoo look like they're about to go out there and stop Changkyun from possibly getting his ass beat. Kihyun and Minhyuk are silently sipping their coffee while Jinhwan finally storms off away from the table and Jiwon tries to follow him but instead Hanbin pulls him back down to his seat.

"Hoseok, Changkyun, come on, this isn't worth you time." Jinhwan reassures, grabbing their hands and pulling them away when Dongsun's voice yells directly at Jinhwan.

"Oh come on Shorty, I can't have a little fun with them? Maybe a little fun with you?" Jinhwan turns around to see Dongsun with a little smirk and Jinhwan let's go of their hands and walks back to him.

"Say that again to my face, I dare you. My boyfriend is in that room and I swear to God if I don't lay a hand on you, he will." Jinhwan threatens the older, showing a little smirk of his own before walking away. Changkyun and Hoseok are already grabbing their belongings along with the rest of them as they begin to walk out of Starbucks, Hyunwoo walking behind all of them just in case Dongsun follows them out the door.

Hyunwoo turns around as they're almost near the exit doors, and looks Dongsun up and down before flashing him a nasty glare. "Follow us, and I swear to God I will beat your ass."

They all find their way to Hyunwoo's mini van after minutes of searching through the parking lot (of course, Hyungwon and Jiwon had to argue with which lane he parked at), and all of them slump in the car, Hyunwoo turning the key in the ignition and pulled out of the mall parking lot.

"Christ almighty, let him flirt with me one more time in front of me Hoseok, and I will literally beat his ass." Jinhwan says, to which Hoseok let's out a tiny "I don't care," and Jiwon whips his head around from the passenger seat.

"Are you serious? He flirted with you! I'll-"

"In all seriousness though, if no one was going to hit him, I was." Changkyun yawns out, rubbing his eyes and stretching out in the backseat. "I mean, I'm not a strong hitter but I could try."

Jooheon laughs along with the others. "Listen here puppy, we believe in you, but I would probably have to save you."

Changkyun shoots a playful glare at the other before laughing and raking his fingers through his tussled, unstyled hair. "You're right, you're right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHMYGOD IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME SINCE I'VE UPDATED THIS STORY I'M SORRY. 
> 
> ~Kaylee <3


	9. ~Hanbin~

"Do you ever stop to think about what the world would be like if everyone was good in the world?" Minhyuk says, propping up his foot behind them against the wall of the school.

Hyungwon looks at him, removing the cigarette from his mouth before something on it with the heel of his shoe. "Dude, it's 7:25 on a Monday morning. Let's not."

"I'm serious," Minhyuk whines. "Honestly, how do you think the world would be if there were just good people? Many people wouldn't be dying or being abandoned, you know? Or not showing up in public with bruises visible on their body."

"I don't have time for this today," Hyungwon mumbles quietly, but somehow loud enough for Minhyuk to hear him. " I know I didn't cover them up, you don't have to remind me. And if you're trying to look out for me Minhyuk, it isn't working very well, now is it?"

"How am I supposed to look out for you when I'm not there?"

"I'd rather you not." Hyungwon says, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets and shivering. "You want to get bloodied and bruised by my father too?"

Minhyuk's silence causes him to continue. "That's what I thought. If you come over and look out for me is not going to end very well for both me and you. I know you're overprotective of all of us, but please, don't get yourself hurt in the process." He sighs loudly, pushing himself off of the wall and walking in through the front doors, leaving Minhyuk by himself before Hoseok and Hyunwoo show up, the younger riding on his back.

"What's up with the gloomy look there Vitamin?" Jooheon asks as Hyunwoo stops in his tracks, and the younger hops off of his back. "You look like a kicked puppy."

Minhyuk lets out a sigh and then a little chuckle, putting his head up against the wall. He just wants to go home and sleep, to get away, but he has to go to school or else Junghee will chew his ass out. "If you have a cigarette I'll tell you why."

"I don't have any," Jooheon responds, furrowing his eyebrows. "Since when did you smoke?"

"Since when do you never have a pack on you?"

"Touché. So what's wrong?"

"Hyungwon keeps showing up with visible bruises all over his body and face." Minhyuk kicks at the dirt with the heel of his shoe as Hyunwoo takes a seat at the bench next to them and Jooheon crouches down to tie his shoe. "And he said that if I'm so worried that I should start looking out for him. But then he contradicted himself by saying that if I came over to his house I'd get beat worse than he did. I don't know what to do."

"I'd take a deep breath and relax. You're doing the best you can do as a friend."

Jooheon jumps and falls near Minhyuk as Hoseok's voice rings through the air as he pulls out a lighter and a cigarette pack. "Want any?" He takes the pack and holds it out, waving and shaking the package before Minhyuk gripped his hand and took one out, as well as Jooheon. They passed around the pack and lighter, Hyunwoo declining both of the offers.   
"Why do you say that?" Minhyuk pipes up again, pressing the cigarette to his lips before blowing out a cloud of smoke. Changkyun walks up and takes the pack out of Hanbin's front pocket and walking over, taking the lighter out of Jooheon's free hand. "Welcome. When did you start smoking?"

"When did you? And stress." Changkyun retorts, putting the cigarette in between his lips.

"Same. And anyways," Minhyuk looks straight at Hoseok. "Why do you say that?"

Hoseok puts out his cigarette with his shoe before answering. "Well lets be honest. It really isn't something you can control, the abuse. What you can try and do is give him the support he needs instead of arguing with him."

"I'd hate to cut the chit chat," Kihyun walks up and cracks his knuckles. "But we have about eight minutes to go to our lockers and get to class."

Hyunwoo stands up, brushing the seat of his pants off. "He's right. And have any of you seen Hanbin yet? Because I haven't."

They all shake their heads and Hyunwoo sighs loudly. "Alright, lets go. I'll text him throughout the day and see if he answers."

"I'll do it too," Jooheon agrees. "Besides, I was planning on ditching right after lunch."

Hyunwoo glares at him.

"Alrigh alright, I won't," Jooheon throws his hands up in the air as if to surrender while he begins to stand up. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and stomps on it. "Man, thanks for the cigarette."

"No problem." Hoseok smiles, stuffing the lighter in the large compartment of his bag. "We're all stress smokers."

Kihyun sighs heavily. "I always show up at the wrong time." He looks over at Hoseok, ruffling his newly dyed pink hair. "You better have some left over after school or I'll personally be kicking your ass."

"Aye aye Captain." Hoseok slings his arms around Kihyun and Minhyuk, both throwing them off simultaneously.

~

"So, where did we leave off last Thursday?"

"My daddy issues like always," Hanbin groans, taking his phone out of his back pocket and sitting it on the couch cushion next to him as it kept vibrating. "Can't we move onto something else?"

"No, not yet," his counselor says with a tiny smile. Taking out her pen, she clicks it against the table and starts writing down the date and time on her notepad. "So , when did you and your father begin to not get along?"

Hanbin rolls his eyes. "Didn't you ask me this last time? Don't you have any other questions?" Okay, so maybe he was being a little bit of an asshole but he is already sick and tired of this counselor. The guidance counselor told him to go there and deciding to be his stupid self, he decided to go, and what a waste of time it is, he thinks. He looks over at the clock, it's 11:15, he really didn't feel like going to school for four hours just to leave.

"Okay, well then how about this," she crosses her legs and grabs a new pen from the side table next to her. "Is there any strong hatred between you and him that makes you act the way you do?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I can't have a little fun here and there?"   
"That's not what I meant, Hanbin, you know that. Now, what feelings do you have towards your father?"

"Do you know what it's like to constantly be perfect? To constantly put up a wall so you don't show any emotion? Especially in your own home? It sucks. I'm expected to be great at this, great at that, not be the family screw-up, graduate high school, go to college, run the law firm that your dad owns, make yourself look perfect for other people so that you don't look like a hoodlum in front of others."

She's too silent, Hanbin thinks, and he grabs his phone and shoves it into his sweatshirt pocket. "I've said too much, I need to go." He feels a hand grasp his wrist and pull him back to the seat.

"Tell me more."

"No." Hanbin walks over quickly to the door before she has the chance to pull him back down onto the couch. "See you some other time, yeah?"

"It's only been 30 min-"

He shuts the door quietly and walks quickly out of the building, the vibration of his phone in his sweatshirt beginning to irritate him slightly. He pulls it out and unlocks the screen to find nine new text messages.

**[Hyunwoo- 8:05 am]: Hey man, we miss you. Try and come back if you can.**

_[Hanbin- 11:17 am]: I'm on my way_

One down, eight more to go.

**[Jiwon- 8:35 am]: Aye buddy get down here, Geometry isn't the same without you.**

_[Hanbin- 11:18 am]: I really don't even pay attention what do you mean. I fuck around with you in the back lmao._

Hanbin sighs. Seven more to go.

**[Jooheon- 9:17 am]: Buddy, did you get the Bio homework done? Also, get here when you can, I miss your loud ass.**

_[Hanbin- 11:21 am]: What kind of question is that? Lmao, I have to or my ass will get chewed out, I miss your loud and stupid ass too._

**[Minhyuk- 9:30 am]: Dude everyone's worrying about where you're at, but hopefully you'll be here soon. See you later bud.**

_[Hanbin- 11:26 am]: Y'all shouldn't be worrying, I'm on my way. Walked out of the counselor's office and I'm calling my mom._

"Hanbin, honey, come get in the car!"

"Jesus Christ!"

Hanbin darts over to the car and slams the passenger door shut, he basks in the heat of the car, the outside temperature a mere 52°F. "How did you even... How did you get here so quick?"

She waits about 10 minutes before answering. "Your counselor called me, said you walked out on her. Hanbin-"

"Don't lecture me, please."

"I wasn't going to. I was actually going to say that I don't blame you for leaving." She says, eyes focused as she pulls into the school parking lot. "I know you're under a lot of stress, and I'm sorry for that."

"It's alright. Bye, I love you." He kisses her cheek and walks away as she yells an 'I love you'.

He hear Jiwon screech from the moment he enters the cafeteria and pounces him onto the floor. Jinhwan grabs his partner from the waist and attempts to hoist him up by himself but fails miserably. "Jooheon dude! Help me here!"

Jooheon looks up from his burger. "Nope, I'm eating heaven at the moment."

"You're so fucking lazy it's a shame," Kihyun laughs, before standing up from the table and shoving Jinhwan lightly off of Hanbin before picking him up off of the floor. He sits down at the table and stares at Kihyun for the longest time, while Changkyun and Hoseok have their faces in food. "You okay? Is there something on my face?" Kihyun panics.

"No, no," Hanbin laughs, reaching over and trying to grab the package of apple slices off of Hyungwon's lunch tray. He ends up having a loud slap on the wrist and Hanbin ends up slightly pouting. "Your hair is light pink."

"No shit sherlock."

"Shut up Hyungwon," Minhyuk retors, taking a large bite out of his sandwich a little aggressively. Hanbin looks confused as all hell, before Hoseok leave over and whispers in his ear.

"They're mad at each other because Minhyuk's tired of Hyungwon not covering his bruises, and Hyungwon's mad at Minhyuk for not trying to look out for him."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously what?" Hyunwoo asks, shoving a bite of salad in his mouth while Changkyun sneaks his fork over to Hyunwoo's dish and takes some of his peaches. "Changkyun for the love of God-"

"Nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything." Hanbin replies, reaching into his bag and grabbing a can of soda. Jiwon starts to reach for it. "Dude, chill. I bought it before I got here, there's a soda machine in here," Hanbin waves his hand around the cafeteria. "Go get some."

"I don't have any money," Jiwon answers.

"Sucks to be you," Hanbin retorts, opening the can of soda and taking a sip. He looks over at the older who is looking between Hanbin and the soda can. "Oh my fucking God, take a drink of it." Hanbin says, passing over the can to Jiwon, who's hand had been proped up and waiting for the ice cold can to be given to him.

"I swear Jiwon," Jooheon laughs, walking over to the nearest trash can and throwing his tray away before reclaiming his seat next to Kihyun. "You beg too much for shit."

"No, I rea-"

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Hanbin yells, ripping the half filled soda can out of Jiwon's left hand. "I said a sip, not the entire can!"

"Someone's getting salty." Changkyun finally pipes up.

"Says you, Mr. 'I am always salty because I have no life'." Hoseok laughs, standing up at the table and throwing his milk carton from the table into the trash can. Everyone at the table cheers and starts high giving him before he sits down.

"Was that supposed to make me feel some type of way?"

"Ooooooooo." Everyone dramatically gasps, throwing their hands over their mouths. Changkyun throws his spoon at Hoseok's face, before Hoseok throws his empty milk carton at Changkyun and fails miserably, smacking Minhyuk right in his nose.

"Okay why'd I get hit with a milk carton?!" Minhyuk screams as the bell rings. They all grab their stuff, before Hanbin almost falls flat on his fave due to the crowd of energy and food filled teenagers smushing themselves in the two doorways.

"Are we going through or are we going to smash each other into the walls like most of y'all do when you kiss in the morning before class?!" Jooheon yells over the large crowds, and all of the boys begin to burst out in laughter.

"So, where were you?"

"None of your business." Hanbin replies, laughing to Hyungwon as he shuts his locker door shut and spinning the dial.

"Counseling?"

"How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"Yeah okay," Hanbin stops at his classroom door. "Lucky guess my ass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!!!!
> 
> I know I haven't been on in the past 4-5 months, but that's due to school, stress, and I had severe writer's block and I seriously thought about stopping the story but since you guys like it so much and keep asking me where I'm at, etc., etc., I wanted to post the next chapter because you guys have been waiting so darn long for it. :) and I know that this doesn't really have a plot, since it's the first chapter in a while (consider this a filler chapter). Enjoy!
> 
> ~Kaylee 


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